Southern Research’s biotech incubator, Station 41 fills up with plans to expand. The pilot space for the Incubator was unveiled in January 2024 with twelve private leasable wet labs (325-625 square feet) and 13 private offices (125-200 sq. ft.). “We had one wet lab and office left coming out of the Summer and it was grabbed in September,” explained Dr. Erik Schwiebert, Executive Director of Station 41. “We knew there was demand, but wow!”
Due to this early and unexpected demand and success, Station 41 has plans coming into clarity to expand our Incubator space gradually throughout the building in which it is currently located on two floors within a much larger research and development building. Support will come from our parent organizations Southern Research and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When realized across 2025 and 2026, our space will expand over time to 40,000 square feet from the current 15,000 square feet. A larger footprint may attract an industry sponsor or partner going forward, along with Federal agency support.
We are proud of our ecosystem of companies that populate our Incubator program as members. Their names and foci are listed below. For more details, we have links to their websites on our Station41.bio website: https://station41.bio/incubator/
Lastly, this transformative project and remarkable early success would not have been possible without the critical support of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build to Scale grant, which has been instrumental in catalyzing our vision for Birmingham’s life sciences innovation ecosystem.
Incubator Residents
Adjuvax – developing novel vaccine adjuvants that may also have chemotherapeutic potential in cancers
Alveolus Bio – developing over-the-counter and regulated therapeutics for lung diseases
ASRT – established government contractor performing genomics and whole genome sequencing services
Celestia Diagnostics – developing high sensitivity diagnostic tests for long Covid and for other viral and bacterial pathogens that exhibit latency in the host
Endomimetics – developing a bionanomatrix coating for medical devices and products that improve biocompatibility in the patient
Inovodel – developing a nitric oxide (NO)-eluting nanocoating for medical devices and products that improve biocompatibility in the patient
Moremme – developing over-the-counter remedies for women’s health and regulated therapeutics for reproductive diseases
Precision Editing Biosystems – contract research services provider of gene edited human and non-human cell lines for academic and industry clients
PMX Labs – developing software and “omics” solutions for detection of infection in wound healing and in other human tissues
Symphony Biosciences – developing SymphNode, an artificial lymph node as a biological medical device to attract immune cell attack of solid tumor sites after surgical removal and to locally apply chemotherapy to the excision site.
TDF Awardees in Shared Space
Station 41 has dedicated a shared lab space and a shared office space, co-branded with Innovate Alabama, for its Therapeutics Development Fund awardees. They are: DomainOne Therapeutics, Diamond Therapeutics, Kalm Therapeutics, Metaclipse Therapeutics, SCORE Pharma, Southern Biologic Solutions, Vanquish Bio, and Yuva Biosciences. Celestia Diagnostics, Moremme and Symphony Biosciences are also TDF awardees, but they have their own private spaces in the Incubator.
